Coating applying machine



March 14, 1961 JOSLYN ETAL 2,974,873

COATING APPLYING MACHINE Filed May 3, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Tiji.

, INVENTORS 74 WALTER BJosz. YN BY JOHN F.14/1LL/AM5 @WM M ATTORNEY United States Patent COATING APPLYING MACHINE Walter B. Joslyn, 2105 S. Hill St, and John F. Williams, 163 N. Edgemont St., both of Los Angeles, Calif.

Filed May 3, 1960, Ser. No. 26,580

1 Claim. (Cl. 239121) Our invention relates generally to the art of applying coats or films of fluid materials to surfaces, and more particularly to machines for progressively applying a liquid coating of a predetermined width to a surface as the machine is moved over the surface.

An object of our invention is to provide a machine which is structurally characterized to enable a fluid material such as shellac to be progressively applied in a uniform coat to the bed of a bowling alley from the pit to the foul line by a simple, continuous movement of the machine over the bed, all to the end of properly surfacing the'bed so that it will provide the traction or friction which is essential to prevent uncontrollable skidding or sliding movement of the ball, with the attendant adverse effect upon the path of movement of the ball intended by the player.

Another object of our invention is to provide a machine of the above described character which is accurately guided automatically at a predetermined speed over the bed of a bowling alley to spray a uniform coat of shellac on the bed as the machine progresses along the bed under the control of an operator who precedes the machine as it moves from the pit end of the alley to the foul line, all in such manner as to facilitate and expedite this essential operation in materially contributing to the proper maintenance of the alley.

A further object of our invention is to provide a coating applying machine in which the alley as well as any other surface over which the machine is moved, are protected against uncontrolled dripping of shellac from the spray nozzles of the machine by the provision of a movably mounted dip catcher controlled by the operator to occupy a drip collecting position or a position clear of the sprays from the nozzles. 7

With these and other objects in view, our invention resides in the combinations, arrangements and functional relationships of elements as set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a view showing our coating applying machine in side elevation;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary detail view of the upper end of a handle embodied in the machine;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view of our coating applying machine in front elevation with the upper portion of the handle broken away;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the machine with the handle broken away;

Figure 6 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 66 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on the line 77 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 6; and

Figure 9 is a longitudinal axial sectional view of one ice 2 0g: multiplicity of spray nozzles embodied in the mac e. Referring specifically to the drawings, our invention in its illustrated embodiment is particularly adapted, although not necessarily, for use in applying shellac to the bed of a bowling alley.

The invention comprises a support S in the form of a rectangular frame 10 composed of members of channel cross section on which is secured a rigid sheet metal platform 11. Pairs of front and rear brackets 12 and 13, respectively, are secured to the sides of the frame 10, the rear brackets 13 having vertical slots 14 (Figure 7) through which extend the reduced threaded portions 15 of stub axles 16 on which are rotatably mounted, rear wheels 17, all so as to provide for vertical adjustment by which the rear end of the frame can be raised and lowered as desired for a purpose to be later described.

Front wheels 18 are mounted on the brackets 12 for rotation and are not vertically adjustable. The gage of the rear and front wheels 17 and 18, respectively, is such as to enable the wheels to roll in and be guided by the gutters G provided at opposite sides of the bed B of a conventional bowling alley with the support S spanning and elevated above the surface 19 of the bed.

A T handle 20 terminating in a yoke 21 at its lower end has the latter detachably secured to the forward end of the support S by means of brackets 22 fixed to the platform 11 and having pins 23 projecting through openings 24 in the arms of the yoke 21 confined against pivotal movement about the pins 23 by stop lugs 25 on the brackets, all so as to dispose the handle in an upwardly and forwardly inclined position and at a height to be conveniently grasped by its handle bars 26.

Extending transversely of the support S at its rear end is a manifold or header which is secured by straps 31 to the platform 11 and is provided at spaced locations along its length with discharge pipes 32 having valves 33 controlling the discharge of shellac from the manifold 30 to spray nozzles 35 rigidly supported by the pipes to project a spray of shellac downwardly and rearwardly onto the surface 19 of the bed B. The nozzles 35 are identical in construction and each is composed of a'barrel 40 having a discharge port 41 at one end controlled by a needle valve 42 screw threaded through the cap 43 of the barrel and passing through a packing gland 44 in the cap. A knob 45 on the outer end of the valve 42 enables the latter to be easily adjusted to vary the volume and spread of the spray so as to obtain a complete and uniform shellac coating across the entire Width of the alley bed B.

A shellac reservoir and an air tank 51 are rigidly secured by straps 52 to the platform 11, air being pumped into the tank 51 by a compressor 53 secured to the platform and driven by an electric motor 54 also secured to the platform and connected to the compressor shaft by a flexible coupling 55. A suitable flexible conductor (not shown) connected to a source of current supply, is utilized to operate the motor 54 as the machine is moved over the bed B of the alley. The discharge pipe 56 from the cylinders of the compressor .53 to the air tank 51 includes a pressure gage 57 and a conventional pressure responsive switch 58 which latter controls the motor 54 so as to maintain a predetermined pressure of air in the tank 51.

An air pipe 60 having a shutoflf valve 61 connects the air tank 51 with the shellac reservoir 50 to place the shellac under pressure and deliver the shellac through valve-controlled pipes 62 and 63 to the manifold 30 so as to maintain the latter completely filled with shellac under pressure.

The valves 33 controlling the feed of shellac from the manifold 30 to the respective nozzles 35 are opened and closed in unison by means of levers 70 secured to the stems 71 of the valves and pivotally connected to a common operating member in the form of a rod 72 reciprocated by a pneumatic actuator (Figures and 7) cornposed of a cylinder 73 secured by a bracket 74 to the platform 11 and having a piston 75 working therein.

The stem 76 of the piston 75 projects from the cylinder 73 through a packing gland 77 and has a pin and slot connection 78 to one end of an operating lever 79 pivoted intermediate its ends about a fixed axis 80 on a bracket 81 projecting from the. cylinder 73. The other end of the lever 79 has a pin and slot connection 82 to the rod 72, all so that the several valves 33 will be opened or closed in unison according as the piston 75 is moved in the cylinder 73 from one extreme position to another.

For this. purpose a control valve 90 is supported on the upper end of the handle 20 and is connected by a pipe 91 to the air tank 51 so as to deliver air under pressure to the valve 90. Pipes 92 and 93 lead from the valve 90 to opposite ends of the. cylinder '73 so that according as a reciprocably mounted ported slide 94 of the valve 90 is shifted to one extreme position or another by pressing against finger pieces 95 and 96 projecting from the ends of the slide, air will be delivered to the cylinder 73 through either the pipe 92 or 93 to. actuate the piston 75 and thus open or close the valves 33 as desired.

A drip catcher in the form of a shallow rectangular pan 100 containing a sheet 101 of absorbent material, is provided with extensions 102 on which rollers 103 are rotatably mounted and travel in the channel members 104 forming the sides of the frame so as to mount the pan immediately beneath the rear end portion of the frame for movement to occupy the extreme position shown in full lines in Figure 6 clear of the spray from the nozzles 35, or the extreme position beneath the nozzles shown in broken lines in this figure, so that any shellac dripping from the nozzles following a spraying operation and closing of the valves 33 will be collected in the pan. A suitable flexible rod 105 contained in a flexible tube 106 is connected at one end at 107 to the pan 100 and leads to a point on the handle convenient to the operator who can operate the rod 105 and thus move the pan to either position as desired.

One of the front wheels 18 is adapted to be positively driven at a predetermined speed by means of an electric motor 110 secured to the platform 11 and operatively connected to the wheel by a silent chain 111 trained about a sprocket pinion 112 fixed to the motor shaft, and a sprocket wheel 113 fixed to thewheel shaft 114. Current may be supplied to the motor 110 by the same flexible conductor that supplies the motor 54, and a suitable rheostat (not shown) may be utilized to vary the speed of the motor 110 so as to drive the machine over the bed B at the most eflicient speed as the bed is being sprayed in the operation of the machine which is as follows:

The machine is first moved by the handle 20 to the pit end of a bowling alley to be treated with a coat of shellac. With the motor 54 in operation to drive the compressor 53 and place the shellac in the reservoir 50 under a predetermined pressure, the valves 33 are opened 4 to discharge a spray of shellac from each nozzle 35 as current is supplied to the motor 110 to drive the machine at a predetermined speed along the alley. The operator walks backwards and precedes the machine while grasping the handle bars 26 as the spraying operation continues until the foul line is reached at which point the valves 33 are closed to discontinue the spraying operation. 'lhe pan is now moved to its position shown in broken lines in Figure 6 so as to catch any shellac dripping from the nozzles 35-, after which the machine is moved to the pit end of the next alley to be treated.

We claim:

A coating applying machine comprising: a support composed of a rectangular frame and a platform spanning the frame; a handle projecting upwardly and forwardly from one end of the support; front and rear brackets secured to the sides of the frame; front and rear wheels mounted on the respective brackets and adapted to roll in the gutters of a bowling alley with the support clearing the bed of the alley; a motor-compressor unit including an air tank on the platform providing a supply of air at a predetermined pressure; a shellac reservoir on the platform connected to the tank so as to be placed under pressure thereby; a shellac manifold on the platform connected to said reservoir to receive shellac therefrom; spray nozzles connected to said manifold and spaced apart across the width of said support so as to downwardly discharge sprays of shellac adapted to collectively coat the entire width of the alley bed; valves between said manifold and nozzles controlling the discharge of shellac from the latter and having operating stems; levers secured to said stems; an operating rod connected to said levers to operate said valves in unison; a pneumatic cylinder and piston unit, the piston of which is operatively connected to said rod to actuate same and open or close said valves according as said piston is moved in one direction or the other; means for admitting air under pressure from said tank to said cylinder to actuate said piston in one direction or the other including a manually operable control valve on the handle and conduits connecting the valve with the air tank and the valve with said cylinder; driving mechanism on the support operatively connected to one of said wheels and adapted to move the support at a predetermined speed along the length of the bed as the latter is being sprayed by said nozzles; a drip pan; rollers carried by said pan and rolling on said frame to mount the pan for move ment to occupy one position wherein the pan clears the sprays from said nozzles, and another position wherein the pan will be disposed beneath the nozzles to catch shellac dripping from same when said valves are closed; and means operatively connected to said pan and manually operable from a location on said handle to move said pan to one position or the other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,139,423 Kinney May 11, 1915 1,191,607 Mills July lS, 1916 1,490,522 Stocker Apr. 15, 1924 2,436,419 Cartwright Feb. 24, 1948 

